Got back from my trip to IN all in one piece. Al's family get together every few years in a central part of the country and southern IN meets that criteria. Initially planned to take the mountainous bicycle, but the call for rain and above freezing temps changed that plan. Drug the cross bike along for some gravel road action in and around the Hoosier National Forest outside of French Lick, IN (no I am not kidding thats what its called). My brother in law, Brad Reed, is always game for some rambling rides.

He also likes to bike in his "shady man" sun glasses. I actually credit (or blame) Brad to getting me into cycling when I married into the family. We had to endure some soul crushingly steep climbs in that area.

Here we are as matching HEED guzzling Ninjas. Its great, every year we get matching gifts from Laura.

Ordered my new pack for TMHTE. I will report back later on how I like this design.
I also scored some new brakes for a song and a dance. Lots of folks say that they do not like Strokers, but I liken Hyd. brakes to high end suspension forks.....I have never used them so I probably would not appreciate (or respect) them (my lack of respect for nice things is a primary reason that I cannot have them). They can't be any worse than BB5's or so we will see. I am currently having the lines chopped down to fit so stay tuned for a review.

Yesterday me and Zach D went out for some into the north wind gravel suffering . 25 miles into the wind (avg speed 12mph) and 25 miles with it at our backs (avg speed 21 mph) .
I am reall looking forward to the end of next week as I will be heading to Idaho to see mi familia and cut some big lines at Sun Valley.
Happy New years

Shenanigans

Got a good bit of snow coupled with some brain freeze inducing cold so big Al took matters into her own hands and got the ok from my folk to give me my Christmas present early.
Pearl Izumi Barrier GTX winter boots.
This will make my winter adventures much more enjoyable.
Note: Gaiters are also really helpful in keeping fluffy snow out of your socks

Got the call from her Al-ness that there was gonna be ski biking in the afternoon so I left work early to meet Al, Brutus along with Tanner, Krispy, and their roommate for some snow bike action.

Since it has been really deep snow I busted out the bike with the fatties.

Never Doubt big Al's ability to make a sick snow angel

We rounded out the evening by playing maul the stuffed duck toy thingy with Brutus.

I manned up and signed up for the Ouachita 80 miler on the SS. There is gonna a huge KS and KC contingent down there this year.

CX nationals and the end of the semester

Been busy...real busy. Been modeling nitrification in soils with anhydrous ammonia as a source. not much fun. But We did make it out to Tiffany Springs park this past weekend to do the SS race, and be loud and proud. I was not dissapointed with my performance, but I was hopping for a top 20 finish. I came up a little short but had a good time nontheless. As I was looking at all the pictures from my race it was pretty hard to find any where I was not standing and grindin up a hill. My choice of gearing was subpar to say the least. I ran what I have always run for cross, a 42:18. I was very competative for the first few laps hanging in the top 20 and passing folks all the while.

I even managed to bridge up to Patterson (and his carbon fiber wheels) for a few minutes and then my irresponcible decision to turn a monsterous gear took its toll.
Below you can see me fending off the advances of that West Virginia woman Betsy Shogren Which I managed to do for about 5 laps.

Phot cred: Carolynne Locke
The problem was the race lasted 6 laps. Yes I got passed by a girl who proceded to ride the run up that I had to run. I was mocked unmercifully by the crowd and Roger Harrison will never let me live it down.

Photo cred: Roger Harrison
The one upside to my monsterous gearing was that I did dominate some guy from Spike Shooter in a sprint at the end to finish 24th. You can see Kyle Shour in the photo above, and he would also pass me towards the end of the race to finish 23rd. It was good to get out there and mix it up with some new faces and ride an awesome course.
Things are coming together for Team Bad Goat Racing. We will make our presence known at Ouachita. I also heard from a throughly unreliable source that Brandon Bundy will return to dominate Boss Cross 3.
More to followw tomorrow after I triumph over the trivial meddling of the Cropping Systems 640 Final.

I thought that this was great

These ol boys are actually speaking english.....or some form of it.



We finally got Brutus and he is adjusting to hobo life accordingly. He terrorizes vermin and takes a mighty steaming dump twice a day just to assert his dominance over the other males. It been good for me especially cuz it makes me have to get out of bed to take him on long runs in the morning. We have had a little trouble equalizing our paces. He kinda has 3 speeds, trot, canter, and chase squirrels (warp Speed). That mean I am gonna have to get faster....
Holiday Symposium Tonite with all the other AGSA members so it will be a gathering of dangerously overeducated farm kids. Should be amusing